《翻译研究入门理论与应用》总结笔记

Chapter 1

Translation

can refer to the general subject field, the product or the process.

The

process

of

translation

between

two

different

written

languages

involves

the

translator

changing an original written text in the original verbal language into a written text in a different

verbal language.

Three categories of translation by the Russian-American structuralist

Roman Jakobson

1 intralingual translation

语内翻译：

Rewording, an interpretation of verbal signs by means of

other signs of the same language

;

2

interlingual

translation

语际翻译

:

Translation

proper*,

an

interpretation

of

verbal

signs

by

means of some other language;

3 intersemiotic tr anslation

语符翻译

transmutation, an interpretation of verbal signs by means of

signs of non-verbal sign systems

.

History of the discipline

1,From late eighteenth century to the 1960s:

part of language learning methodology

Translation workshop, comparative literature, contrastive analysis

2,

James S Holmes “the name and nature of translation studies” (

founding statement for the

field)

3, 1970:

Reiss:

text type

Reiss and Vermeer: text purpose(

the skopos theory

)

Halliday: discourse analysis and systemic functional grammar

4, 1980

The

manipulation school

: descriptive approach, polysystem

5, 1990

Sherry Simon:

Gender

research

Else Vieira: Brazilian

cannibalist

school

TejaswiniNiranjana:

Postcolonial

translation theory

Lawrence Venuti: cultural- studies-oriented analysis

Holmes?s map of translation studies

The

objectives

of the pure areas of research:

1,

descriptive translation theory

: the description of the phenomena of translation

2,

translation

theory

:

the

establishment

of

general

principles

to

explain

and

predict

such

phenomena

Pure: theoretical and descriptive

DTS: descriptive translation studies

1, product-oriented DTS: existing translations, text

(diachronic or synchronic)

2,

function-oriented

DTS:

the

function

of

translations

in

the

recipient

sociocultural

situation

(socio-translation studies or cultural- studies-oriented translation)

3, process-oriented DTS: the psychology of translation (later think-aloud protocols)

Relation

between Theoretical and descriptive

The results of DTS research can be fed into the theoretical branch to evolve either a general theory

of translation or, more likely, partial theories of translation.

Partial theories

1, Medium- restricted theories: translation by machine and humans

2, Area-restricted theories:

3, Rank-restricted theories: the level of word, sentence or text

4, Text-type restricted theories: discourse types or genres

5, Time-restricted theories:

6, Problem-restricted theories:

Applied

branch

of

Holmes?s

framework:

translator

training

,

translation

aids

and

translation

criticism

.

Translation policy

: the translation scholar advising on the place of translation in society

Chapter 2 translation theory before the twentieth century

Literal vs. free debate

Cicero (first century BCE): I did not hold it necessary to render word for word, but I preserved the

general style and force of the language.

Horace: producing an aesthetically pleasing and creative text in the TL.

St Jerome: I render not word for word, but sense for sense.

Martin Luther:

1,

non-literal

or

non-accepted

translation

came

to

be

seen

and

used

as

a

weapon

against

the

Church.

2,

his

infusion

of

the

Bible

with

the

language

of

ordinary

people

and

his

consideration

of

translation in terms focusing on the TL and the TT reader were crucial.

Louis Kelly:

Fidelity: to both the words and

the perceived sense

Spirit:1,

creative

energy

or

inspiration

of

a

text

or

language,

proper

to

literature;

2,

the

Holy

Spirit.

Truth:

content

17 century:

Early attempts at systematic translation theory

Cowley: imitation

Counter the inevitable loss

of beauty in translation by

using our wit or invention to create new

beauty;he has ?taken, left out and added what I please?

John Dryden

reduces all translation to three categories:the triadic model

(

约翰德莱顿的三分法

:“

”

、

“

意译

”

与

“

仿译

”)

1,

metaphrase:

word for word translation

2,

paraphrase

: sense for sense translation

3,

imitation

: forsake both words and sense

Etienne Dolet:

a French humanist, burned at the stake for his addition to his translation of one of

Plato?s dialogues.

Five principles:

①

The

translator

must

perfectly

understand

the

sense

and

material

ofthe

original

author,

although he should

feel free to clarify

obscurities.

②

The translator should have a

perfect knowledge of both SL and TL

, so as not to lessen the

majesty of the language.

③

The translator should

avoid word-for-word

renderings.

④

The translator should

avoid Latinate and unusual forma

.

⑤

The translator should

assemble and liaise words eloquently

to avoid clumsiness.

Alexander Fraser Tytler

TL-reader-oriented definition of a good translation:That, in which the merit of the original work is

so completely transfused into another language, as to be as distinctly apprehended, and as strongly

felt, by a native of the country to which that language belongs, as it is by those who speak the

language of the original work.

Three general rules:

I. That the Translation should give a

complete

transcript of the

ideas

of the original work.

II.

That

the

style

and

manner

of

writing

should

be

of

t

he

same

character

with

that

of

the

original.

III. That the Translation should have

all the ease

of original composition.

——

A. F. Tytler: Essay on the Principles of Translation

Tytler ranks his three laws in order of comparative importance:

Ease of composition

would be sacrificed if necessary for

manner,

and a departure would be made

from manner in the interests of

sense

.

Friedrich

Schleiermacher:

the

founder

of

modern

Protestant

theology

and

of

modern

hermeneutics

Hermeneutics:

a

Romantic

approach

to

interpretation

based

not

on

absolute

truth

but

on

the

individual

?

s inner feeling and understanding.

2 types of translators:

1, Dolmetscher: who translates commercial texts;

2, Ubersetzer: who works on scholarly and artistic texts.

2 translation methods:

1, translator leaves the reader in peace, as much as possible, and moves the author towards him.

Alienating method

2, translator leaves the writer alone, as much as possible, and moves the reader towards the writer.

Naturalizing method

The status of the ST and the form of the TL

Francis Newman: emphasize the foreignness of the work

Matthew

Arnold:

a

transparent

translation

method

(led

to

the

devaluation

of

translation

and

marginalization of translation)

Chapter 3 Equivalence and equivalent effect

Roman Jakobson

: the nature of linguistic meaning

Saussure

: the signifier(

能指

) the spoken and written signal

The signified(

所指

) the concept signified

The signifier and signified form the linguistic sign, but that sign is arbitrary or unmotivated.

1,

There

is

ordinarily

no

full

equivalence

between

ingual

translation

involves

substituting

messages

in

one

language

not

for

separate

code-units

but

for

entire

messages

in some other language.

2,

for

the

message

to

be

equivalent

in

ST

and

TT

,

the

code-unit

will

be

different

since

they

belong to two different sign systems which partition reality differently.

3, the problem of

meaning and equivalence

thus

focuses on differences in the structure and

terminology of languages

rather than on any inability of one language to render a message that

has been written in another verbal language.

4, cross- linguistic differences centeraround obligatory grammatical and lexical forms. They occur

at the level of

gender, aspect and semantic fields

.

Eugene Nida

1, an orthographic word has a fixed meaning and towards a functional definition of meaning in

which a word acquires meaning through its context and can produce varying responses according

to culture.

2,

meaning

is

broke

down

into

a,

linguistic

meaning

,

b,

referential

meaning

(the

denotative

?

dicti onary

?

meaning

指称，字面

) and c,

emotive meaning

(connotative

隐含

).

3, techniques to determine the meaning of different linguistic items

A, analyze the structure of words

B, differentiate similar words in relaxed lexical fields

3 techniques

to determine the meaning of different linguistic items

1

，

Hierarchical structuring

, differentiates series of words according to their

level,

2

，

Techniques

of

componential

analysis

（成分分析法）

identify

and

discriminate

specific

features

of

a range of related words

.

3

，

Semantic structure analysis

：

Discriminate the sense of

a complex semantic term

Chomsky:

Generative-transformational model

: analyze

sentences

into a series of related levels governed

by rules.

3 features

1,

phrase-structure rules

短语结构规则

generate an underlying or

deep structure

which is

2, transformed by

transformational rules

转换规则

relating one underlying structure to another,

to produce

3,

a

final

surface

structure

,

which

itself

is

subject

to

形态音位规则

phonologi cal

and

morphemic rules

.

The

most

basic

of

such

structures

are

kernel

sentences

,

which

are

simple,

active,

declarative

sentences that require the minimum of transformation.

Three-stage system of translation

Analysis

: the surface structure of the ST is analyzed into the basic elements of the deep structure

Transfer

: these are transferred in the translation process

Restructuring

: these are transferred in the translation process and then restructured semantically

and stylistically into the surface structure of the TT.

Back- transformation

回归转换

(Kernels are to be obtained from the ST structure by a reductive process)

Four types of functional class: events, objects, abstracts and relationals.

Kernels

are the level at which the message is transferred into the receptor language before being

transformed into the surface structure in three stages:

literal transfer, minimal transfer

最小单位

转换

and literary transfer.

Formal

equivalence

:focuses

attention

on

the

message

itself,

in

both

form

and

content

,

the

message in the receptor language should

match as closely as possible

the different elements in

the source language.

Gloss translations

释译

Dynamic equivalence

is based on whatNida calls

the principle of equivalent effect

, where the

relationship

between

receptor

and

message

should

be

substantially

the

same

as

that

which

existed between the original receptors and the message.

Four basic requirements

of a translation

1, making

sense

2, conveying the

spirit and manner

of the original

3, having a natural and

easy

form of expression

4, producing a

similar response.

Newmark

Communicative translation

attempts to produce on its reader an

effectas close as possible

to that

obtained on the readers of the original.

Semantic translation

attempts to render, as closely as

the semantic and syntactic structures

of

the second language allow, the exact contextual meaning of the original.

Literal

translation

is

held

to

be

the

best

approach

in

both

communicative

translation

and

semantic translation.

One of the difficulties encountered by translation studies in systematically following up advances

in theory may indeed be partly attributable to the overabundance of terminology.

Werner Koller

Correspondence

:

contrastive

linguistics,

compares

two

language

systems

and

describes

contrastively

differences and similarities

. Saussure

?

s langue (competence in foreign language)

Equivalence

:

equivalent

items

in

specific

ST-TT

pairs

and

contexts.

Saussure

?

s

parole

(competence in translation)

Five types of equivalence

Denotative equivalence

Connotative equivalence

Text-normative equivalence

Pragmatic equivalence (communicative equivalence)

Formal equivalence (expressive equivalence, the form and aesthetics of the text)

A checklist for

translationally relevant text analysis

:

Language function

Content characteristics

Language-stylistic characteristics

Formal-aesthetic characteristics

Pragmatic characteristics

Tertiumcomparationi

in the comparison of an ST and a TT

“

第三对比项

”“(

某种恒定的客体

———

超越任何个体语言的

)

第三元素

”

An

invariant

against which two text segments can be measured to gauge variation.

Chapter 4

static linguistic

typologies

of translation shifts

Chapter 5 functional theories of translation

Katharina Reiss: Text Type

Builds on the concept of equivalence but views

the text

, rather than the word or sentence as the

level at which communication is achieved and at which equivalence must be sought.

Four-way categorization of the functions

of language (Karl Buhler, three)

1, plain communication of

facts

, transmit information and content, informative text

2,

creative composition

, expressive text

3, inducing

behavioral responses

, operative text

4,

audiomedial

text, supplement the other three functions with visual images, music, etc.

Different translation methods for different texts

1,

transmit

the

full

referentical

or

conceptual

content

of

the

ST

in

plain

prose

without

redundancy and with the use of explicitation when required.

2,

transmit

the

aesthetic

and

artistic

form

of

the

ST,

using

the

identifying

method,

with

the

translator adopting the standpoint of the ST author.

3,

produce the desired response

in the TT receiver, employing the adaptive method, creating an

equivalent effect among TT readers.

4,

supplementing

written words

with visual images and music

.

Intralinguistic and extralinguistic instruction

criteria

1,

intralinguistic

criteria: semantic, lexical, grammatical and stylistic features

2,

extralinguistic

criteria:

situation,

subject

field,

time,

place,

receiver,

sender

and

affective

implications (humor, irony, emotion, etc.)

Holz-Manttari: Translational action

Takes up concepts from communication theory and action theory

Translation

action

views

translation

as

purpose-driven,

outcome

oriented

human

interaction

and

focuses

on

the

process

of

translation

as

message-transmitter

compounds

involving

intercultural

transfer.

Interlingual

translation

is

described

as

translational

action

from

a

source

text

and

as

a

communicative process involving a series of roles and players.

The initiator

The commissioner

The ST producer

The TT producer

The TT user

The TT receiver

Content

,

structured

by

what

are

called

tectonics,

is

divided

into

a)

factual

information

and

b)

overall communicative strategy.

Form

, structured by texture, is divided into a) terminology and b) cohesive elements.

Value: place of translation, at least the professional non- literary translation within its sociocultural

context, including the interplay between the translator and the initiating institution.

Vermeer:Skopos theory

Skopos

theory

focuses

above

all

on

the

purpose

of

the

translation,

which

determines

the

translation

methods

and

strategies

that

are

to

be

employed

in

order

to

produce

a

functionally

adequate result (TT, translatum).

Basic rules of the theory:

1, a translatum is determined by its skopos;

2, a TT is an offer of information in a target culture and TL concerning an offer of information in a

source culture and SL.

3, a TT does not initiate an offer of information in a clearly reversible way

4 a TT must be internally coherent

5 a TT must be coherent with the ST

6 the five rules above stand in hierarchical order, with the skopos rule predominating.

The

coherence

rule,

internally

coherent,

the

TT

must

be

interpretable

as

coherent

with

the

TT

receiver

?

s situation.

The fidelity rule, coherent with the ST, there must be coherence between the translatum and the

ST.

1, the ST information received by the translator;

2, the interpretation the translator makes of this information;

3, the information that is encoded for the TT receivers.

Intratextualcoherence

intertextual coherence

Adequacy comes to override equivalence as the measure of the translational action.

Adequacy: the relations between ST and TT as a consequence of observing a skopos during the

translation process. In other words, if the TT fulfills the skopos outlined by the commission, it is

functionally and communicatively adequate.

Criticisms:

1, valid for non-literary texts

2,

R

eiss?s

text

type

approach

and

Vermeer

?

s

skopos

theory

are

considering

different

functional

phenomena

3,

insufficientattention

to

the

linguistic

nature

of

the

ST

nor

to

the

reproduction

of

microlevel

features in the TT.

Christiane Nord: translation-oriented text analysis